The Industrial Strategy sets out Grand Challenges to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future.

As part of our approach we are developing ambitious missions to tackle these Grand Challenges. Each mission will focus on a specific problem, bringing government, businesses and organisations across the country together to make a real difference to people’s lives.

Artificial Intelligence and data

Mission: Use data, Artificial Intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases by 2030

Using AI and data, there is an opportunity to accelerate medical research in early diagnosis, leading to better prevention and treatment of disease. Within 15 years better use of AI and data could result in over 50,000 more people each year having their cancers diagnosed at an early rather than late stage. This would mean around 20,000 fewer people dying within 5 years of their diagnosis compared to today.

This mission aims to put the UK at the forefront of the use of AI and data in early diagnosis, innovation, prevention and treatment. Success in this mission is one of a number of steps towards saving lives and increasing NHS efficiency by enabling earlier diagnosis and reducing the need for costly late stage treatment. The opportunity - working with academia, the charitable sector, and industry and harnessing the power of AI and data technologies - is considerable. It should lead to a whole new industry of diagnostic and tech companies which would drive UK economic growth.

Ageing society

We will harness the power of innovation to help meet the needs of an ageing society.

Mission: Ensure that people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest

We are living longer lives because of medical advances, better drugs, healthier lifestyles, and safer workplaces. A girl born in the UK today has a 1 in 3 chance of living to 100, and the chance of living to 100 will double in the next 50 years. Given this trend, it’s time to radically rethink how we respond, at each stage in life, to the way that we we support our families and communities, as well as the way that we approach work, finances, health and care, and housing.

This mission aims to ensure that people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2030, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest. Success in this mission will help people remain independent for longer, continue to participate through work and within their communities, and stay connected to others to counter the epidemic of loneliness.

The mission will help:

support people to remain at work for longer

build markets for consumer products and services that better met the needs of older people

drive improvements in public health and innovate across the social care sector

launched a joint UK–Japan competition to support British and Japanese businesses to harness AI and robotics to develop and showcase a new generation of assisted living products

Clean growth

We will maximise the advantages for UK industry from the global shift to clean growth.

Mission: At least halve the energy use of new buildings by 2030

Heating and powering buildings accounts for 40% of our total energy usage in the UK. By making our buildings more energy efficient and embracing smart technologies, we can cut household energy bills, reduce demand for energy, and boost economic growth while meeting our targets for carbon reduction.

For homes this will mean halving the total use of energy compared to today’s standards for new build. This will include a building’s use of energy for heating and cooling and appliances, but not transport.

This will be achieved by:

making sure every new building in Britain is safe, high quality, much more efficient and uses clean heating

Progress so far

established the Active Buildings Centre with £36 million investment from government and industry to develop new building materials which generate electricity from light and heat

invested £72 million to establish a Construction Innovation Hub, a partnership between the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Building Research Establishment and the Centre for Digital Built Britain, to support research into developing and commercialising digital design and offsite manufacturing technologies

committed to adopt the new Future Homes Standard by 2025 to ensure all new homes are future-proofed with low-carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency

launched supply chain pilots worth up to £3 million to test different approaches to increase the rate of energy efficiency improvement by supporting local supply chain integration and project coordination

Next steps

We will be launching:

a design competition for the Home of 2030 to encourage innovation in the design and delivery of higher quality, more energy efficient housing that also addresses the needs of an ageing population

Mission: Establish the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040 and at least 1 low-carbon cluster by 2030

This mission will be achieved by:

reducing emissions in 1 cluster to net-zero by 2040

in at least 1 cluster, by 2030:

the low-carbon infrastructure needed to support industrial decarbonisation will be in place and operational, attracting new investment and innovation

multiple industrial facilities will already have reduced their emissions, by the greatest possible extent

positioning UK clusters as top areas for global inward investment and driving demand for low carbon products and technologies by harnessing the power of markets, the public sector, universities and local communities

Success in this mission would transform our industrial clusters into world leading low-carbon manufacturing hubs, safeguarding existing jobs and companies on which the prosperity of key regions depends.

It will further establish the UK’s position at the forefront of the global shift to Clean Growth by developing world-leading expertise in green manufacturing products, and the technologies and services required to produce them. The mission aims to attract inward investment, new business and employment opportunities.

It will support the cost-effective decarbonisation of our industrial sector, which accounts for around a quarter of all UK GHG emissions.

Next steps

We are aiming to open the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge by late summer 2019.

Future of mobility

We will become a world leader in the way people, goods and services move.

Mission: Put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, with all new cars and vans effectively zero emission by 2040

How we get around is going to change significantly in the future. New technologies, such as zero emission vehicles and self-driving cars, are improving transport to make it safer, cleaner and better connected.

This mission aims to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacture of zero emission vehicles and sets an ambition for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. This will help improve the air we breathe, support the shift to clean growth, and help the UK seize new economic opportunities.

We are backing this mission with:

support for innovation in clean ways of powering vehicles, including £1 billion over 10 years for development of low carbon powertrains through the Advanced Propulsion Centre, and £246 million for the Faraday Battery Challenge to develop safe, cost-effective and high-performance batteries for electric vehicles

grants to help people buy ultra low emission vehicles, as part of a £1.5 billion investment between 2015 and 2021 to support the growth of this market

we announced a £100 million boost for R&D in zero emission vehicle technology

industry announced £500 million of investment creating over 1,000 jobs across the UK, including; £200 million for EV Network, a UK-based charging station development company, and £50 million for a new Aston Martin facility in St Athan Wales

passed the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act, giving the government new powers to improve the customer charging experience, require chargepoints to be smart and increase chargepoints at key locations

invested £246 million in the Faraday battery challenge to drive innovation and scale-up facilities for batteries for electric vehicles, including a UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry